Pieces of Time
by Sadie Breezy-O'Shea
Summary: The story of how Percy Jackson was betrayed by one of his best friends, the one whom he considered his little brother, how his 'brother' sent him to his death. The story of Percy and how he became the Commander by being fed lies, and how he was robbed of all of his memories and was given fake new ones, changing his persona completely.
1. The Beginning of a Tragedy

Story Title: **Pieces of Time**

Summary: "You're really going to go through with this?" He looked away from her and focused his attention on the midnight sky, not daring to meet her fierce glare. "I have to," he answered after a brief pause. She nodded and stuck her hand out towards him, "Good luck, Jackson."

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians nor the Heroes of Olympus.

Note: This is a re-write of Alpha, Son of Chaos and Commander of the Universe. There's going to be some big changes in this version, but I'll leave some things the same... maybe.

* * *

_**Pieces of Time**_

**01. **The Beginning of a Tragedy

* * *

_"I can't get ya out of my mind, with the way you walk, the way you walk. Baby, you should be a sign, the way you make me stop, make me stop." —30H!3_

* * *

The cool breeze swept through the low cabin as she opened the door carefully and quietly— the breeze hit him, making him shiver slightly, before he turned in his sleep and finally settled in a comfortable position, with his hands folded on top of his blue body pillow and with his head rested on top of them, laying on his stomach.

She entered the cabin and closed the door, a smile on her face as she heard his relaxed breathing.

He was having a normal, non-demigod dream by the looks of it. That was good. She hated it when he had those fortune-telling nightmares that shook him to the core and made him worried.

She walked closer to his sleeping body and sat on the edge of his comfortable bed.

"Percy," she whispered in his ear, her smile widening when she heard him mutter her name under his breath.

"Percy," she called his name louder.

He shifted his position and turned his head away from her subconsciously.

"PERCY!" She yelled in his ear, slapping his head.

He jolted up with a start, his eyes barely opened as he uncapped Riptide and pointed it at her neck.

He blinked, his eyes getting used to the daylight and looked up to see grey eyes staring back at him, expectantly.

"Well?"

He gave her a sheepish smile and caped Riptide, hiding it under his body pillow, once again.

"Sorry, Annabeth," he mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck.

She rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, "It's lunch time."

His hair stuck to the back of his neck, annoying him. He was currently slashing at dummies angrily, glaring straight at the remaining pieces heatedly.

Huffing angrily, he brought his hand up to his head and ran his hands through the wet with sweat hair.

His breathing was uneven as he walked back to his Cabin for a quick shower before dinner.

He swung the sword in his hands and then caped it, turning it back into a pen and placing it in his pocket.

"I swear, I need a haircut," he breathed, once again, running his hand through his annoyingly long and messy black mop of hair.

He walked through the doorway of his cabin and walked straight into the bathroom, grabbing his towel on the way.

Fifteen minutes later, he was done cleaning himself and got dressed in a simple old camp shirt and faded blue jeans with some worn out sneakers.

He was the last one to get to dinner that night, surprising many. He was usually the first one in the Mess Hall.

Campers noticed the dark bags under his eyes and the thin line that his lips formed on his face. His green eyes that were usually filled with happiness were dark and dull, barely reflecting his emotions.

He served himself two slices of cheese pizza and filled his cup with sparkling water.

He proceeded to walk towards the fire and threw in one of the slices of pizza.

Throughout dinner, his friends kept sending him worried glances.

What was wrong with him?

Annabeth tried catching his eye but he never looked up. His face was buried in his hands and his food sat untouched, only one bite of the slice of pizza missing.

"What's wrong with Percy?" Malcom asked Annabeth, his eyes on the back on Percy's head.

"I don't know," she sighed defeatedly, "I honestly don't know," the daughter of Athena looked back down at her food and sat in silence, wondering what was wrong with her boyfriend.

He had been fine in the morning. Something must've happened before lunch, while he was training, but what?

If he had gotten into a fight or a verbal argument, surely she would've known by now.

Percy looked up, finally and noticed the stares he was receiving.

He looked away and stared at his pizza, poking at it before picking up the now cold slice and bringing it up to his lips, then taking a bite of it, chewing slowly.

Even that pained him.

He felt as if he was dying slowly. He could see that his skin was sickly pale, just like Nico's was years back.

He could also see that his hands were shaking visibly. He put down the pizza back on his plate and wiped his greasy fingers on the white napkin.

His throat tightened and he felt his stomach drop as Chiron stood up and stomped his hoof on the wooden floor, attracting everyone's attention.

"Attention, heroes," Chiron called out, clearing his throat, "I'd like to announce that there has been a new quest assigned."

By now, everyone's eyes were on the centaur.

"Percy Jackson will be the only member of the quest."

"What's the objective?" An Athena camper asked.

"Go to Arizona, steal Kronos' scythe from a remaining army of monsters from the Second Titan War and... kill their leader," Chiron informed, hesitant about the last part, his eyes on Poseidon's son.

There were whispers from the campers until a son of Demeter asked a final question.

"Who's their leader?"

Chiron frowned and closed his eyes, his expression grim, then re- opened them, his eyes momentarily flickering towards the table in front of Percy's.

Percy looked away from his teacher and gazed towards the dark and lonely woods.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

Percy stormed out of the pavilion as soon as those words left Chiron's lips.


	2. Death Awaits the Sea

_**Pieces of Time**_

**02. **Death Awaits the Sea

* * *

_Let me show you what you're missing, paradise. With me you're winnin' girl, you don't have to roll the dice. - Justin Bieber_

* * *

He stormed out of the pavilion without a word; his fists clenched by his sides and an angry aura around his retreating form. Hundreds of worried yet confused eyes watched him leave, no one dared to make a sound. It was eerily quiet in the mess hall, until Chiron cleared his throat and stomped his hoof on the floor, attracting the attention of the campers, once again.

"As you can see, from the previous display, our camp leader isn't very happy with the quest that has been assigned to him", the old trainer of heroes said awkwardly, his gaze once again flickering towards the dark and empty table.

Instantly, as if they had been released from a spell of silence, frantic chatter broke out, siblings whispering loudly among each other, each giving their own opinions and making up unrealistic and pathetic theories.

The blond daughter of wisdom was still frozen, her grey eyes fixed on the food in front of her - her appetite long gone. Her stormy grey eyes were void of emotion, but a frown inhabited her lips. Her siblings stayed quiet, not wanting to interrupt their cabin counselor's musings with their own theories.

She couldn't think straight, her thoughts were fuzzy; this didn't make sense _at all. _

Why would the Ghost King turn into a traitor? He had friends and a new family among the camp. He was welcomed with open arms and he had seemed so happy to be finally accepted (well, as happy as a child of the Underworld can be), and he had a permanent home at the Jackson-Blofis residence.

Things didn't add up. There was something strange somewhere along the lines, but it was difficult to pinpoint it, exactly; she needed more information.

**_Pieces of Time_**

The green-eyed boy was later found sitting at the edge of the camp borders buried deep within the forest, his feet dangling off a cliff; he was staring at the dark sky with glazed eyes. His hands were moving through the dirt slowly and subconsciously, writing the same thing over and over in the dirt; the stars shone brighter with every word that he wrote.

"Jackson?" the boy turned slowly, removing his gaze from the stars and focused on the person who had called his name behind him.

"Clarisse?" he responded in a confused tone. Said person rolled her eyes and sat next to him, her feet too, dangling from the tall cliff.

"You're really going to go through with this?" He looked away from her and focused his attention on the midnight sky, not daring to meet her fierce glare. "I have to," he answered after a brief pause. She nodded and stuck her hand out towards him, "Good luck, Jackson."

He took her hand in his own and gave it a forceful squeeze, making her grin.

"When has luck ever been on my side?" he asked defiantly, although there was a teasing smirk dancing on his lips.

Clarisse shook her head, releasing a small laugh and squeezed his hand more forcefully, "It's time for you to change that, then."

The green-eyed boy's smile faded and he released her hand from his grip, dropping his hands to his side, his fingers once again beginning to write on the dirt as they previously had.

"I'm supposed to _kill _him. _Murder _the boy whom I consider my little brother," he saw that the daughter of war was about to protest, but he sent her a glare and began to talk once more before she got her chance to add her own opinion, "Even though he is now a traitor, he's still my brother."

The older girl's mouth closed and her lips formed a straight line; she stood up and brushed away the dirt from her pants.

"Do what you have to do, it's duty," she muttered, looking down at him; she spun on her heel and left to younger boy to think over things clearly.

"Jackson," she stopped on her tracks and turned her head, "Make sure Chris makes it out alive, yeah?"

The son of the Sea God gave her a hesitant grin and nodded in reassurance, "Will do, War Girl."

She scowled at the nickname, as she walked away.

Percy looked down at his dirty fingers and his cheeks flushed red when he realized what he had written in Ancient Greek: στρύχνος.

**_Pieces of Time _**

He stood in front of the stables, a small backpack on his back. He ran a hand through his raven hair and sighed inwardly - the blond girl in front of him kept rambling, trying to cram in every last bit of information about monsters that he might face on his quest to Arizona.

"- And it has one at each end of its bod-"

He rolled his eyes and put a hand on her shoulder, "Calm down, Annabeth, I'm going to be alright." He placed a soft kiss on her forehead to soothe her.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he walked into the stables before she could start her rambling again - he didn't need a headache right before he left for his quest.

_Hey boss, you ready for this? _

He smiled when he heard his Pegasus' voice in his head.

"Of course, the question is, are _you _ready?"

The black Pegasus snorted and gave him a look, _I was born ready, boss. _

"Alright, then, let's go. Off to Arizona."

_Can we stop by to get some doughnuts first?  
__  
_"No."

_Bu- _

"I brought you sugar cubes instead."

_Let's go! _

_**Pieces of Time**_

The son of the sea god and his faithful Pegasus landed on top of the dark building in Phoenix, Arizona - the sky was dark and littered with stars; the night was quiet, not even the sound of passing by civilians could be heard.

_Uh, I'm not sure about this, _the Pegasus spoke in Percy's mind nervously.

"Look, just stay here and keep watch, alright?"

Blackjack nodded and the green-eyed boy sighed in relief. He took out his pen and uncapped it, watching as it turned into a large, Celestial Bronze sword in the blink of an eye.

He concealed himself within the shadows as much as he could, he pressed himself against some crates and kept a watchful eye. Around the corner from where he was, about ten feet away, he could see a demon that resembled a vampire, a lot. No, it wasn't an _empousa; _this demon didn't have the bronze and donkey weird feet.

He furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he tried to remember what its name was - he had heard of it from Annabeth - based on its appearance.

_"Lamia, a demon with the appearance of a vampire that preys on children," _he recalled Annabeth's exact words - it was one of the few monsters which he had even bothered to memorize because it seemed interesting.

He turned to look at the other corner, raising his sword just a bit to get some light, but suddenly, the light that Riptide provided him flickered and disappeared.

"Wha-?"

He turned his head again and saw that Lamia was gone. Percy felt someone's stare burning holes on his back - he turned his head and came face to face with _him. _

The son of Hades looked older - he was as tall as a fifteen year old, even though he was only thirteen, and his skin was no longer pale; his skin had regained that Italian olive color that he had when he had first discovered that he was a half-blood. The most peculiar thing was that he was wearing sunglasses, shielding his eyes - at _night. _How can someone change so much in three months?

"Nico," the green-eyed boy whispered unsure.

The half-Italian reached for his sword that hung from the chains on his waist that he called a belt and pointed it at the older male.

"Fight me," the Ghost King said, "That's what you came here for, isn't it?" The Ghost King wore a cold smirk.

Percy frowned and raised his own sword, then got in a fighting position. Nico wiped the smirk from his lips, took a couple of steps back, then released a battle cry.

The two swords collided with each other, creating bronze sparks that illuminated the dark night. Nico tried to stab at Percy's side, but the Sea Prince was faster, and move to the side, jabbing his sword at the Ghost King's chest. The half-Italian stumbled and almost fell back, before regaining his balance with the help of the crates, and slashed at Percy's head, but the child of the sea also dodged this, fell to his feet and tripped Nico with his sword, making the son of Hades fall to the ground.

The younger male fell on the concrete floor with a groan, his sword fell from his grasp and rattled across the cold floor, far away from his reach.

Percy stood above the fallen body of the traitor, Riptide pointed at the son of Hades' neck, but then, he heard a loud whine coming from the direction from where he and Blackjack had landed.

Nico took this opportunity to summon another sword from the shadows and disarm Percy, pinning him to the ground, the sword held above Percy's mortal point - the child of the sea had no idea how the half-Italian knew his weak spot.

"Blackjack won't come to your aid. _Taraxippi_ serve me, and they've surrounded your precious Pegasus," Nico spat at the older boy, with hatred in his voice as he spoke of the Pegasus.

The Ghost King chuckled when he caught sight of Percy's confused look, "You should've paid more attention to your Monster classes at Camp, Percy," Nico said with dark humor in his voice, "_Taraxippi_ are ghosts that scare horses away."

Nico then proceeded to pick up Percy by the back of his shirt, and yanked on his raven hair, then forced him to walk towards the edge of the seventy-story building.

"I'm not cruel enough to kill you myself - well, I am, but I don't want my sword to be tainted with your blood," Nico said, a malicious smile adorned his lips, then Percy felt a cold liquid on his mortal spot - it burned him and brought tears to his eyes.

"Gorgon's blood," the dark prince said, clearly enjoying watching Percy try to break free, trying to escape the pain as the Gorgon's blood ate away his invulnerability. Nico removed his glasses from his face and placed them on top of his head. Percy caught sight of Nico's eyes through his pained tears - his eyes were darker than the usual onyx color that they usually were, and little specks of midnight blue and gold surrounded his pupils, finally, his eyes were rimmed with such a black color that Percy had only seen once - the Tartarus black.

Nico's eyes were timeless; the moment Percy caught sight of them, he could see his life flashing before his eyes; the dark eyes of his now-enemy bringing out his worst memories. Including, the last conversation he had with Chiron.

_The old centaur gave Percy an apologetic look and gestured for him to sit down on the chair in front of his desk. _

_"I have bad news, Percy." Chiron informed his favorite student, a regretful tone coated his words._

_"What is it, Chiron? Tell me," Percy responded, his sea-green orbs held deep worry. _

_"It's about Nico, Percy."_

_"What about him? Tell me, Chiron!" Percy demanded, his voice picking up a panicked tone. _

_"He has joined forces with the enemy. He has betrayed the gods and us." _

Percy shook his head, more tears escaped his eyes and he shut his eyes tightly, wishing that his tears would wash away those painful memories.

"Have fun rotting in Tartarus," Nico whispered in the older male's ear, before pushing him off of the building.

Percy fell from the building and two seconds later, his body collided with the concrete ground, seventy floors down. Blood erupted from his body and he heard his bones crack.

He felt his soul leaving his tattered body and he let a groan of pain escape his lips before he closed his eyes.

Why wasn't he dead? He should've died on impact...

He saw a bright flash in front of him and dark yet kind eyes, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, the last thing he saw was the constellation of the Huntress, before darkness overtook him.

_"Perseus," _he heard from the owner of the dark eyes. Then, his bloody body went limp and he took his final breath.

* * *

**A/N: **Annnnd... cut! That's a wrap guys! So, yeah. This crappy little chapter took me three days to come up with. I mean, I had the idea in my mind, but I just started typing this during my free time at school. You guys better thank me, I skipped lunch just to write this for you guys, ha, kidding. I don't even eat lunch, so it was no biggie.

No, this isn't the ending, yet. I mean, jeez, this is only the second chapter. I already have sort of an idea of what is going to happen in the next chapter, so be patient with me, please. I just want this story to be more creative and different from the previous one and the rest of the Chaos fics.

Anyways, I'm rambling. Thanks for reading.

Can I get at least ten to fifteen reviews? Pretty please with Nico and Percy on top? :)

-Sadie.


	3. Memories & Nightmares

**Pieces of Time**

**03.** Memories & Nightmares

_When no one else will fuck you, I'm always here to do the job. –Life._

* * *

His head was throbbing and he felt as if he had just been hit by a baseball bat in the back of his head repeatedly for hours. He groaned as he clutched his head softly, feeling too weak to put much strength into it. He tried to sit up slowly, wincing when his muscles moved just the slightest bit. He was pushed back onto his back by a strong hand, although the stranger's touch was soft, it hurt so much - everything inside him felt broken and as if the broken pieces were mending painfully slow.

He blinked slowly and his green eyes met warm midnight blue eyes that were so dark that they almost appeared to be a bright black.

"You must rest, my boy," the man murmured, and the green-eyed boy suddenly began to feel drowsy, and he felt the little energy that he had left leave him completely. His head hit the pillow softly and he was knocked out once again, from exhaustion and pain.

The next time he awoke, he groaned and opened his eyes groggily, his tired eyes took notice that he was in a dimly lit room, so the light didn't torture his eyes. His curious eyes roamed his surroundings, absorbing every little detail. There wasn't much to see; the room was painted a light white, almost creamy, color. There were no windows and the only decoration in the room was an old portrait of a young boy.

The boy in the portrait looked around the age of six years old, with the little baby fat. His hair was an inky black with blue streaks in his hair, but they looked as if he was born with them, and they weren't dyed, his eyes were the ones that really caught his attention, though. The eyes were a rare deep blue color with dark yet mesmerizing green surrounding the pupils. The smile that the six year old boy wore was filled with mischief yet childish innocence. The boy's skin was glowing-pale, like one's would look under the moonlight. His right hand was opened, and hovering over his palm was -

"You're awake!" the green-eyed boy was suddenly interrupted from his examination of the portrait by a booming voice in the doorway, one that hadn't been there before when he had woken up moments before.

"Who… who are you?" he managed to croak out, noticing for the first time that his throat was incredibly dry like a desert.

It was the same man as before. He wore a dark suit with a white tie that went well with his eyes. A small smile was intact on his lips and it only became wider when the boy spoke to him.

"I am… Lord Chaos," the man told the boy with a kind smile, as he sat at the edge of his bed careful to not move the mattress too much and risk hurting the boy's current fragile state.

The boy was confused, he was sure that he had heard that name somewhere before (because he was pretty sure that the man wasn't talking about the destructive sort of chaos that others created), but his memory was fuzzy, he couldn't recall anything from his past and it made him want to bang his head against a wall repeatedly. It was so frustrating.

The man sent him a sympathetic smile and stood up, placing his hand on the boy's right shoulder, "You don't remember anything, not even your own name, am I correct?" the man guessed, but the boy saw a strange emotion flash in the man's eyes, before it faded - the boy guessed that he must've imagined it.

The boy was reluctant to admit the truth, he felt embarrassed, but he finally nodded, confirming Lord Chaos' guess. Chaos sighed and ruffled his hair lightly, "Your name is Percy Jackson," Chaos informed him, his voice was so soft and soothing, it made him feel as if everything was going to be fine - suddenly, he felt as if he had been slapped, because a memory came crashing into his brain unexpectedly; Chaos and the room faded and a memory began to play in his mind like an old film.

"_Ever felt like you're so alone, even though there are millions of others to accompany you?" a girl with coppery hair mumbled, her eyes were focused on a beautiful white rose in front of her. She stroked the white petals softly; her lips parted slightly, a strand of her hair fell in front of her face. Her face was stony as she blew the piece of hair away and then rolled her eyes and pushed the annoying strand of hair behind her ear._

"_Yeah," another voice whispered, his voice was filled with despair, "Always. " _

_His voice was so quiet that it was difficult to hear the last word that he had mumbled. The girl looked up at him, her dark eyes met his own, they held each other's gazes until he leaned towards her, his eyes flickering down to his lips before closing his eyes - the girl did the same. Their lips were inches apart, and the he could feel her warm breath on his parted lips. _

"_There you are!" _

_Immediately, the girl and he jumped apart, acting as if they had been examining the purely white roses the whole time and not about to connect their lips. Nope. _

_She ran a hand through the bush of white roses and flinched when a sharp thorn came in contact with her index finger. She jerked her hand away silently and brought it up to the level of her eyes, stroking her new wound with her left index finger, smudging said finger with blood. _

_Percy stared at the bleeding finger with a frown - the blood was a royal purple with specks of black. _

_The purple blood colored the girl's other finger, and she grinned, holding out both fingers to the white roses and rubbed her blood-covered fingers across the petals softly, with a small care-free smile on her face. _

_Percy's frowned disappeared and smiled too, and he pressed his finger on a thorn, creating a small hole in his pinky and squeezing it tightly, drawing black blood with specks of white. He too, rubbed his finger across the white petals, staining them… so beautiful. _

_His black blood and the girl's purple blood touched, and when the two different bloods made contact, the bloods glowed and sank into the roses; the white roses glowed slightly under the sunlight before it stopped, and the roses were revealed, but they were no longer white - they were golden, like actual gold shimmering in the sunlight._

_Percy wiped his bloody finger on his blue shirt and reached out to caress one of the golden roses - so soft. Softer than they had been before… but why had they changed color? _

_They both heard a cough behind them, and both realized that they had forgotten of the one who had interrupted them in the first place - standing there with arms crossed was a beautiful woman with long brown hair that reached down to her mid-back, soft and warm brown eyes, and an amused smile on her lips. She shook her head and a small laugh escaped her lips. She raised a hand and gestured them towards her._

"_Come on, Percy and -" _

The memory was cut short when Lord Chaos removed his hand from Percy's shoulder.

"Who was that girl?" the green-eyed boy questioned quickly… he had to find out who the girl was. He wanted to get more memories; he wasn't satisfied with just one. He was greedy for more and more. He wanted to recover his whole life in the blink of an eye. Percy had a sneaking suspicion on which Chaos was… he had a vague memory of it, but as he tried to grasp it, the memory ran from him, mocking him and making him even angrier.

Who did that stupid memory think it was? Running away like a damn coward and not facing him… mother of the gods… he was losing his mind if he was calling a _memory _a coward… wait just a flipping minute.

_Gods? _

Chaos smiled softly, "You'll find out soon enough, my boy," Chaos told him and stood up and made his way towards the door; Percy watched him as he walked away, and a thought slapped him upside the head. Not literally… that would hurt… a lot.

"Why do you keep calling me 'my boy'?"

Chaos turned his head to look at him one more time, expressionless, and then responded:

"Because you are my son, Percy."

Percy felt the blood leave his face and his head hit the pillow for the third time that night.

_**Pieces of Time**_

Nico di Angelo woke up with sweat covering his pale torso. His hands were shaky and his dark eyes were wide with fear. The memory that he had hoped to forget during the day was now haunting him at night in his dreams.

He could still see Percy's body falling from the rooftop and colliding against the concrete ground, and he could still hear the loud cracking of bones that had been heard throughout the city of Phoenix, echo in his ears over and over again, torturing him.

The son of Hades ran a hand through his damp hair and untangled himself from his sheets and put his feet on the cold wooden floor and stood up, not bothering to put on shoes, then walked towards the balcony that overlooked a small city in the outskirts of Arizona.

He breathed in the warm summer air and shut his eyes in attempt to block out the painful flashbacks, but the memories wormed their way into his brain, flashing through his mind like a film.

His eyes flew open and he pulled on his ebony strands of hair roughly. His Tartarus black eyes with specks of gold and midnight blue glowed under the silver moonlight. He couldn't take it anymore!

His ex-best friend, although dead, was everywhere. He haunted his dreams and every time that the Ghost King would blink, he could see Percy's broken body laying on the cracked floor, with blood flowing out of him. He remembered how much he had cried that night, mourning over the loss of his ex-best friend.

He hadn't meant to murder Percy… Nico didn't know what had taken over him. One minute, he was standing in front of Percy, with his sword drawn and observing his tense movements through his dark sunglasses, and then the next moment, he had pushed him off of the building after rubbing Gorgon's blood on his Achilles spot. He had no idea how he had known the older boy's mortal spot, though.

Nico didn't know what was wrong with him - he lost control of himself often, not being able to control his own actions which usually ended with somebody's death and then, he would pass out, and the next time he awoke, he was back in Phoenix, Arizona. It was like he was being possessed.

He wasn't able to shadow travel anymore by free-will. Everything in the past few months had been a blur to him. His eyes, they were darker and they had two other colors within his pupils and he certainly had no idea how they changed colors.

"_Nico…" _

The half-Italian looked around, searching for the source of the voice.

"_Nico…."_ The voice called again, it was raspy and so ancient. He gulped, having a hunch of whom might be calling him.

"_Kronos?" _

The voice laughed in his mind, _"No, my dear boy, I am much older." _

Nico gulped again and he felt sweat build up on his forehead from nervousness, he responded in his mind, timidly, _"Tartarus?"_

The ancient voice let out a chuckle, "_Good, very good, son of Hades. I see that you're a clever one. I've chosen well."_

"_Chosen?"_ The dark prince questioned inside his mind quietly, trying as hard as possible to not gulp for the third time that night in fear.

Tartarus let out another deep chuckle and Nico could almost feel the dark god nod, _"Of course, Nico."_

"_But, chosen for what?" _

Things were finally starting to make sense to Nico; why he had betrayed the Olympians subconsciously, why he couldn't remember parts of his life, why he had killed the Sea Prince…

"_To help us take over the Western Civilization and overthrow the Olympians, of course! You shall help us greatly with the task we have prepared for you."_ Tartarus exclaimed cheerfully.

Well, holy fucking shit.

Because becoming the pawn of an ancient evil god whom wants to overthrow the Olympians had always been one of the top things on his _Ten Things to Do before I Die_ list.

_Please_, in the name of all the flipping gods, notice the fucking sarcasm.

_**Pieces of Time**_

Lightning and dark clouds covered the usually sunny sky. Grey eyes studied the clouds and sighed, running a hand through her curly blond hair then wiped away the small, crystal clear tears that were falling from her eyes.

She hadn't taken the news so well, the news that her boyfriend of two years was dead, murdered by one of the people he trusted the most. She hated the son of Hades for it, and she swore to herself that the next time she even caught a glimpse of him, that he would pay with his life and she would personally make sure that he rotted in Tartarus.

She sniffed and took her dagger from her shoe and walked towards the practice arena stiffly, her face was set in a pointed glare at the sky and no one dared to get to close to her in fear of being stabbed to death by her dagger.

It just wasn't fair. Things had been finally so peaceful and he had to go and get himself killed.

That boy had always seen the good in everyone, always having fate that they deserved a second change, especially his closest friends, because he was too loyal for his own good, and it was his fatal flaw that had ended him.

She got in a fighting position and attacked the dummies, letting out her anger and sadness that had been bottled up for the past forty-eight hours.

They hadn't even found his body. Just some dried up blood and his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. She hadn't even had a change to tell him the news…

She slashed at another dummy, ripping it apart by its midsection as more memories of him came rushing inside her head, making her head spin.

_He smiled at her and took her hand in his own warm one, intertwining their fingers and walking in a comfortable silence. It was moments like these that she loved the most, no matter how sappy that sounded. _

_They entered the Big House and took their seats next to each other, facing Chiron. He had called a counselors' meeting. _

"_We have come together to discuss the Fourth of July plans," Chiron announced, "We have to decide which heroes we will feature that afternoon in the Fireworks." _

_Annabeth sat up straighter on her seat, "I think that we should feature all of the heroes whom died in the Second Titan War," she said. _

_Travis raised an eyebrow, "Even the traitors, like Silena?" _

"_Why you little twerp -" Clarisse started, as she stood up, her spear clutched in her hand. _

"_Stop!" Percy said, raising his voice and gestured for the daughter of Ares and the son of Hermes to sit down. _

"_Silena died a hero. Annabeth is right, we should -" _

"_Jackson agreeing with his girlfriend, huh?" Connor teased, "Man, you're so whipped." _

_Percy raised an eyebrow and gave Connor a pointed glare, "It's not called being whipped; it's called having respect for your girlfriend by not starting a pointless argument, but you wouldn't know about any of that, of course." _

The memory faded and a new one took its place…

_Annabeth and Percy next to each other at the beach, surrounded by their closest friends. _

"… _and then he was like, 'Girl, I know you did not just do that,' in a weird gay voice and she just rolled her eyes and said, 'Connor, just know that from the bottom of my heart… I really don't give a fuck.'" _

_There were rounds of laughter as Travis finished his tale on how Connor had gotten his feelings 'hurt' by a daughter of Hecate. _

_Percy began telling how own tale, "I was in French class last week, and there were two girls arguing and-" _

"_Were the girls hot?" Nico interrupted, but looked down when he got a lot of strange looks. _

"_Anyways… the black-haired girl was arguing with the new girl, and she just went up to the girl and said, 'You new here?' and the new girl just gave her a 'duh' look and then said all sarcastically, 'No, why would you think that?' so the black-haired girl responded with a blank face, 'well, you look more confused than a blind lesbian in a fish market…' that's when they started arguing and throwing insults at each other, the black-haired girl, her name is Lauren, by the way, said all pissed off, 'Yeah? Well, you got a face only a penis would love,' so the new girl, Carla, looked as if she was about to slap Lauren and responded, 'Bitch,' and…" Percy continued, beginning to laugh at the memory, "… Lauren threw her hands in the air and said, 'I'm done with this shit'…. and Carla gave her a smug smile and said, 'did you wipe?' then walked away." _

_Annabeth was laughing alongside the others and slapped Percy playfully._

"_What? I'm serious!" _

_The memory faded and she snapped back into reality. _

This was her fault, if only she had insisted on accompanying him on that mission…

_Slash! Slash! Whap! _

Tears were starting to blur her vision, but she fought harder against the dummies, each falling to the ground uselessly until there was no more left. For the first time since she found out that Luke had turned into a traitor, she sobbed, real heart-broken sobs.

Why did things like this always happen to her? What had she done to deserve this The Fates were cruel… for one scary and insane moment, she contemplated on ending her life right then and there, to join Percy, the boy who she loved in Elysium.

She shook her head and more tears blurred her vision and she shut her eyes tightly, hoping that it was just a nightmare. That she would be able to wake up and her Seaweed Brain would be lying right beside her.

Every emotion that she had kept bottled up flew out of her in the form of those damned salty tears. They cascaded down her face as she fell to her knees, her dagger clutched tightly in her right hand. She lifted it up with a shaky hand and stabbed it into the ground where the remains of the dummies lay spread all around. She lifted her dagger again and stabbed once again, repeating this action for several more minutes, each time more forcefully as more tears left her eyes.

She pretended that she was stabbing Nico's face over and over again, unleashing her fury.

In the end, everything was his fault and only his. It was his fault that Percy was dead. The son of Hades was an ungrateful little bastard. He would pay. Annabeth would avenge Percy's death, even if it was the last thing she would ever fucking do.

This wasn't a dream, a nightmare that she could wake up from, no, this was much worse. This was the reality. The life of a demigod; in the old stories, heroes never got their happy endings, except the original Perseus… she knew why Sally had named Percy after the son of Zeus, but unfortunately, it didn't work.

_This was all Nico's fault and he would fucking pay for everything. _

…_**End of chapter…**_

Hm… well, I actually liked this chapter. I know, some of you might be kind of confused about who the girl is, but hey, that was kind of the point. To make people confused. Don't worry, some things will be explained in the next chapter. I also very much enjoyed writing the last part, about Annabeth. Some would argue that she's being extremely out of character, but think about it, she thinks that her boyfriend of two years is dead. She loved him… a lot. Keep in mind that she also hadn't shown emotion since she got the news, two days previously, until it finally sank in, two days later. She also thinks that this is all Nico's fault. She's angry and she would do anything to murder him… *cackles evilly* As much as I love Nico, which is a lot, a showdown between Nico and Annabeth would be quite fun, no? Just think about it… ah, I can already see it. Oh, you're also confused about what the fuck Chaos is doing? Ha, you'll see… but another thing to keep in mind: Appearances can be deceiving, darling. So, don't be so quick to judge the Creator, he has his own reasons, which you will find out about in maybe chapter four or five… I'm not sure yet, since I don't want to reveal it so quick and rush things. Raise your hand if you have a hunch of which pairing this story will be? Hint: Not Percabeth, sorry.

It's just, there's way too much Percabeth and well, this is fan fiction for a reason, right? Also, this is not a slash story, if that's what you're thinking… I know some of you guys are… *coughs* Nico/Percy shippers *coughs* Sorry, had something in my mouth…

"Your mom's pussy."

Shut up, perverted side of me!

"Make me!"

LOL, no. Y'know what? Suck my non-existent dick. I'm sure you'll fucking enjoy it, it tastes like dinosaur pee, you pervert.

"Did you just make a Justin Bieber reference?"

Maybe I did…

"Do you realize that you're arguing with yourself?"

Yeah… *scratches head awkwardly* ANYWAYS…..

As you can see, I changed the summary, yeah? It's awesome right?

Anyways, go to my profile and read my bio thing. It has more information about my stories and future stories, too. Go and read my new story, **Make Me Proud**. Now, off to go and update **Reading the Last Olympian **and then… **Interdit**.

Thanks for reading. Oh, one more thing…

**ROSES ARE RED. **

**VIOLETS ARE FUCKING VIOLET NOT BLUE. **

**THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. **

**REVIEW, MAYBE? **

BAM! Worthy of Apollo right there. Want to know why? Cause I'm his daughter, duh.

AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME…. AS LONG AS YOU LO-LO-LO-LO-LO-LO-LO-LOVE ME, LOVE ME. AS LONG AS YOU LO-LO-LO-LO-LO-LOVE ME. LOVE ME. I'LL BE YOUR SOLDIER, FIGHTING EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY FOR YOUR DREAMS, GIRL.

Okay, for real this time guys, _adios demigods._


	4. Forged Memories

**_Pieces of Time_**

**04**_**. **_Forged Memories

The man wore a hesitant smile, his mysterious midnight eyes had lost the contentment in them; coldness had replaced the tranquil expression on his face. He ran a hand through his jet-black hair gradually and pulled at the ends in aggravation. He wasn't sure that he could go through with his plan. It was perilous, there was a possibility that the boy would recuperate his true memories later on, and detest him.

True, he was Chaos, the Creator, but even he couldn't change the course of fate without causing the boy to succumb earlier than he was supposed to. The boy's destiny had been written long before he had even been born… if he were to alter with his brain, planting forged memories in his brain, he would lose his persona and gain a new one, he would lose his values, he would lose _everything._

It was a risk worth taking, if it meant that…

Chaos shook his head and wiped all expression from his face. He had to go through with his plan, even if it was selfish. He mustn't let himself be overcome with absurd human emotions such as remorse. No, he, the Creator was far too good to feel those kinds of emotions. Triumph and glory should be the only emotions felt by a being of his stature.

He walked towards the room where the boy was located, at the end of the hall closest to his study. He walked past a golden door with fine-looking engravings of the stars; the door's frame was bejeweled with pearls, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and other stunning precious rocks.

Chaos' lips formed a tight line as he ran a hand on the door… it brought him so many tragic memories. It made him ache on the inside and he could feel sorrow bubble in the pit of his stomach. He gulped in a breath of air as his trembling hand traced a carving of the planet _Alacris_. It had always been _his_preferred planet… the people of the planet Alacris were known in many galaxies for being cheerful, bold, and rapid, hence their planet's name.

The man removed his hand from the splendid doors and straightened up. He didn't like remembering, it hurt him too much, it made him appear weak – something that he could not afford.

Chaos continued to walk towards his original destination and twisted the silver doorknob of the simple steel door. He pushed the door open at a snail's pace, and walked in, his footsteps muted, until he found the boy sleeping serenely. His breath was steady; he had regained color and his bruises were long gone. Chaos' eyes traveled towards the portrait located on the right wall from the door. He let his eyes wander from the portrait and back to Percy. It had to be done.

"Wake," he commanded, and instantly, Percy's eyes fluttered and he groaned lowly, and then sat up leisurely on the bed with no difficulty. He was completely healed – what a relief.

His sea-green eyes focused on Chaos, and a small and wary smile wormed its way into his youthful face. He hadn't forgotten about Chaos' revelation.

"How are you feeling, Percy?" Chaos asked tranquilly, his voice was soft and so quiet… he barely moved his lips; his midnight eyes were focused on the portrait.

"Better, thank you", the green-eyed boy responded, the weary smile hadn't faded. He refused to glance back at the portrait of the young boy; it made him frown and feel guarded for some reason. A voice in the back of his head whispered incomprehensible words to him – the voice sounded troubled.

Percy shook his head and sighed. He was unquestionably going insane.

Chaos gave the notion of not noting the , the man walked closer towards him and gave him a vacant smile.

"Do you want to know more about… your past?"

The hesitation in the man's voice didn't go unnoticed by Percy, but he pushed the feeling of trepidation away and tuned out the troubled voice in his head. The boy nodded zealously. Chaos' smile flickered and a solemn expression replaced that empty smile. He positioned a chilly hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him a look filled with sympathy.

The room around the green-eyed boy faded and he felt himself being sucked away from reality and placed in the past. His body, he noticed, had the appearance of smoke.

_He was standing in front of a great and depressing house at hours of darkness. The clouds in the sky were gray and it appeared as if the house was sucking in the shadows that the dull night brought the village. People swarmed through the worn-out streets hastily, and he noticed that the civilians seemed to throw the house looks of fright._

_He walked closer towards the residence and passed right through the metal gates that were sealed with oxidized chains. Old, dried out leaves littered the concrete ground; the breeze swept through the aged trees, and more leaves fell to the ground, some entering the ominous house through the broken glass of the large windows._

_He stopped in front of the double oak doors for a second too long. Before he knew it, he was being sucked inside the house along with the shadows. It was as if he was being torn apart and forced back together in under a second, and repeated the process over and over again, until the sensation finally stopped._

_He observed his ambiance vigilantly. The walls were a deep scarlet; the floor covering was worn to shreds, as if a cat had been scratching it for ages. The windows were filthy, its glass was broken. He noticed that a leaf was about to float through the broken window, but when the old, dried out leaf tried to fly in, the leaf turned green once again, before it burned to ashes without flames, and blew back outside._

_He wanted to cry out something like, 'What the heck just happened?' or something along those lines, but his memory-self couldn't talk as much as he tried to._

This alternate-self dissolved and he felt that horrible sensation once again. He reappeared in another room of the gloomy house – the room was decorated with old Gothic-style furniture. The bed's burgundy sheets and black pillows matched the rest of the room.

_His memory self dissolved and he felt that horrible sensation once again. He re-appeared in another room of the gloomy house – the room was decorated with black and ruby, old Goth-style furniture. The bed was burgundy with black pillows. The floor was covered with golden and black tiles._

_"You're finally here," he heard a voice speak delicately behind him. His memory-self spun on his heel, his hand automatically reaching for the silver cross sewed in his globes; Percy noticed that his memory-self was dressed in black clothing. He wore a black cloak with golden lining, he also wore brown leather boots, and his globes were a dark tan color. He wore a golden belt around his waist, strapped around the belt was a silver dagger engraved with carvings of the stars. The expression he wore on his face was stony._

_"Of course; I always answer the call," memory-Percy responded composedly._

_He didn't meet the man's cold gray eyes, instead, he traced the silver cross with his index finger while his dark green eyes examined the surroundings, and finally, he settled his eyes on the man, eying him apprehensively._

_The man appeared frail, his skin looked so thin and pale, his bones were showing, and he was dressed just like memory-Percy… except that a thin, golden crown rested on the man's gray, untidy curls._

_The man cleared his throat and stuck one bony hand out, "My name is Matchitehew."_

_Percy's eyes turned a darker shade of green at the man's name, his back became rigid and his eyes narrowed. The elderly man wore an amused grin, his gray eyes watching Percy's every move._

_"Yes," Matchitehew continued with a light laugh, "You know what they say… the name customarily reflects the bearer's persona," he wheezed out, clutching his torso as he stumbled and struggled to recuperate his steadiness; Percy made no attempt to assist the man, instead, he watched him, motionless. Matchitehew grabbed the edge of the center table and then sat down on the crimson sofa, gesturing for Percy to take a seat – he did just that._

_"If I had known it was you, I would've never come," Percy uttered, his voice was bitter and his dark jade eyes were vacant. The man cracked a grin, revealing his yellow teeth._

_"It's in your nature to help those whom require it, is it not?" Matchitehew questioned, his eyes trailing over to the window, he watched in boredom as a leaf disintegrated when touching the glass as if it was a daily occurrence – it most likely was._

_The green-eyed man's head snapped up to glare at Matchitehew, "Not people like you!" He shouted, standing up abruptly. He pulled on the silver cross on his right glove and then twisted it in one swift move. The cross vanished and a great and lethal-looking blade made out of space platinum appeared in his hand. Percy pointed the sword at Matchitehew's neck – the elder man stayed seated, his features didn't show alarm or terror._

_"Now, now, no need to fight," Matchitehew said, his smile was still in place._

_"You should've died a long time ago," Percy growled, "How did you do it?"_

_Matchitehew's smile faded, "Your father sent a knight concealed as a peasant to poison my food. I just outsmarted the filthy peasant, no big deal", he spat out._

_Percy gave him a look filled with repugnance, "My father has good reasons to want you dead! You're the one who was scheming to remove the queen from power and seize the throne for yourself! Then, you wanted to send the armed forces to Germany and become dictator, and if you didn't succeed… you'd pass on the post to your son… you have spoken to the Oracle, haven't you?"_

_Matchitehew made a move to stand, but Percy pressed the blade harder against his neck, "Of course, the Oracle has prophesied that years from now, maybe even centuries, someone from my ancestry, by the name of Hitler, will at last accomplish what I started!" the more the old man spoke, the more his gray eyes gained a demented gleam, "He might not succeed in taking the throne, but he will become the dictator of Germany and annihilate all of those filthy –" He was cut off by the swing of Percy's blade at his neck – his head rolled to the tiled floor, the blood blending in to the room's color. _

The memory vanished, but he soon was placed in another.

_His memory self was clothed in golden armor, and wore a ceremonial scarlet toga on top of the armor and on his back, he wore a purple cloak – the sign of a Praetor. His torso was ornamented with golden and bronze medals and he had a black tattoo on his right forearm – it had a grinning cranium in the axis, and a ring surrounding the spine-chilling skull; coming from the circle, there were six arrows, all pointing to dissimilar directions, then the letters SPQR were imprinted underside the skull. He had one tally mark beneath the inscription._

_He wore a harsh expression on his face; his green eyes were sinister and overflowing with malice. To his left, a striking woman was seated, her expression was impassive – the woman and alternate-Percy kept their eyes trained frontward. There were armed forces on each of their sides and hundreds in front of them, guarding them from peril._

_Percy could see an oncoming army marching towards them speedily; as they neared, Percy could see that the enemy was dressed in bronze armor, and their weapons were also bronze._

_"Soldiers," memory-Percy called, his eyes still focused on the rivals, "Show those filthy Graecus no leniency! Show them how spiteful Romans can be!" he boomed, taking the woman's hand in his own – both smiled, "This is your chance to prove yourselves as true warriors of Rome! Attack!" he commanded at full volume and at once, the Roman soldiers launched into combat, yelling their battle cries in Latin – they would exterminate the Greeks, no matter what, it was a matter of honor._

_Metal could be heard clashing in the air – the ambient was soon filled with cries of help, all begging for mercy from the Greeks. The woman and alternate-Percy were still sitting on their granite thrones, watching with glee dancing in the depths of their mysterious eyes._

_"Perséa, parakaló̱!" one of the Greek soldiers yelled at him in a pleading voice as he neared towards both Praetors – Perseus shook his head and smiled as he watched how a buff Roman soldier attacked the Graecus from behind and sliced off his limbs agonizingly time-consuming, enjoying the pleasing tormented screams and the whimpers of pain that filled the Roman air – the Roman warrior lastly cut off his head in one swift swipe, silencing the cries._

_Both Praetors nodded in approval and the warrior scampered away to find more victims to kill._

_"Perséa, parakaló̱ eléi̱son! Í̱tan mia parexí̱gi̱si̱!" a different Greek warrior yelled as he fought with a Roman soldier – their swords clashed not in favor of each other, creating brilliant sparks in the atmosphere._

_Perseus' eyes flashed with rage, "Do not address me in that licentious idiom!"_

_The lady next to him put a petite hand on his shoulder and whispered something indistinct in his ear, comforting his rage – "Very well," he responded, and he gestured for a protector that was still standing next to him to fetch the Graecus nearer to him – "Your breed have betrayed me, I do not trust simply", Perseus told the Greek callously as his eyes burned hateful holes on his body; the Greek whimpered and nodded – "I'm sorry," he whispered. Perseus released an empty cackle and shook his head, "Too overdue for that at the present."_

_The male praetor then unsheathed his sword from his side and ran the tip of the blade across the Greek's neck – the enemy's eyes packed with panic and demanding for clemency; "I won't kill you", Perseus told the enemy, to which he sighed in relief, "At least, not now", he finished. His eyes wandered back to the blood-spattered combat zone, and he smirked in satisfaction when he saw the corpse of the Greeks and smiled in pride when he heard the triumphant ovation erupting from the Roman militia._

_"Pérsi ..." the Greek whispered in despair when he caught sight of his dead fellow soldiers._

_"Beautiful vista, isn't it?" Perseus asked in glee and turned to look at the woman, who nodded in agreement, a nasty grin on her striking features._

_Perseus stood up and held out an arm for the woman. "Come, Solanum."_

The recollection washed out and Percy found himself back in the basic bedroom once again, with Lord Chaos watching him with apprehension.

"I-… I killed all these people in my past?" Percy croaked out dreadfully. Chaos nodded unhappily and his eyes darted back to the portrait – Percy copied his actions.

"Who is he?" he questioned softly.

Chaos frowned and looked back down at Percy, "That's you."

**_Pieces of Time_**

"Please! He's not dead, I can feel it!" she yelled at her teacher pleadingly. Her eyes were filled with tears that blurred her vision and her mind was clouded with thoughts of him.

The old centaur shook his head dejectedly and looked up at one of his favorite students, "You have to understand, Annabeth. His only remnants were his blood that tinted the concrete and his tattered camp shirt. I'm sorry, but he is dead."

"He isn't dead!" Annabeth protested stubbornly, "Why don't we just ask Lord Hades?"

"Child," Chiron began, "He is the father of our number one opponent; he can't be trusted at this instant."

The offspring of Athena sighed and stared at her grimy and beat up sneakers, letting the tears drop – "I never got to tell him the news…" she mumbled, and her teacher stared at her with concern.

"Annabeth, have you told your mother?"

"No, I haven't. I wanted for Percy to be the first one to know… I'll inform my mother tomorrow. Thank you, Chiron", she whispered and stormed out as she slipped on her Yankees cap, making her vanish from thin air.

"Oh, child", Chiron said as his eyes were trained then and there from where the blond had disappeared, "Heroes never have happy endings."

He walked out of his office, his thoughts elsewhere, and as he shut the wooden entrance gently, behind him, an unpleasantly cold zephyr and a small giggle were unheard.

_"Heroes do have happy endings, just not with the ones who they on one occasion considered their family."_

**_Pieces of Time_**

Percy and Chaos strode through the streets of Lord Chaos' empire in a relaxed silence, side by side. Percy wore an impassive mask over his confusion – Lord Chaos had told him that he would recover all of memories in time, and he would know what had happened to him to make him lose them.

As they passed civilians, each one stopped to observe them with inquisitiveness in their eyes, and some gave him hospitable smiles as they bowed to both males.

"I have someone that you would want to meet, I have a feeling that you and him will be great friends", Chaos told Percy with a smile, which the boy returned. They both entered Chaos' palace once again and their steps echoed in the cold halls.

The older man stopped in front of a golden entry with inscriptions in an alien idiom and adorned with carvings of constellations. He knocked on the door softly, and only seconds later, the door opened.

A boy, around Percy's age, smiled up at the two males and stepped away from the door to permit them to walk inside his chamber.

"Percy, this is Dukker," Chaos said pleasantly. Dukker stuck his hand out and Percy took it in his own, shaking it then releasing it. "Pleased to meet you," Dukker said in a strange accent, with a grin as he stared up at the ceiling – which was a reflection of the sky, filled with constellations. Percy nodded in agreement.

Percy studied Dukker carefully. He had sandy blonde hair and fair skin. He wore black clothing – a plain black T-Shirt, black skinny jeans, and black Converse – he looked like a regular teenage boy… Percy had an indistinct image of a younger boy with pale skin who wore pure black, but then it was departed.

"Dukker here is from the planet _Todhchaí_."

Dukker nodded and took out from his jean's pocket a set of cards with images of the stars on them and shuffled them speedily and then offered the deck of cards to Percy, "Choose a card, any card."

Percy cautiously took a card from the heart of the deck and stared at it – "The card… it's blank."

Dukker laughed lightly and shook his head while he took the blank card from the green-eyed boy's hand, and then blew on it – he showed Percy the card; images of stars.

Dukker examined the card closely, tracing the images of stars and mumbling to himself, before a demented express amusement escaped from in between his lips. "The stars declare… '_The terrible warrior will burn. The kingdom of the plain is given to the woman of the west. The god of war foretells plenty.' _Fascinating…"

Percy nodded tensely and laughed softly, but it came out sounding almost like a panicky whimper.

"Right", Chaos started as he watched how Percy watched Dukker warily – the boy would have to get used to it, he had a feeling they would be the best of friends, "Percy, we must go."

Percy nodded and gave Dukker a head-nod. "Wait," Dukker said, startling Percy. The blond boy gave Percy the card – it no longer had stars, but words, the same words of the phrophecy he had just spoken to Percy. "Keep it, it's yours", Dukker said simply and gave both males a smile of good-bye.

**...End of chapter... **

_So, review? It would make my day. I tried really hard, and I really like how this story is going. I'll try to update at least twice a month. Expect another update soon. _

_Thanks for reading. _

_Tenga un buen día!_


	5. Phoenix Awards (Note)

**Hey! Guess what?! Okay, so a couple of days ago, I checked my email and saw a new review on one of my one-shots, ****False Promises.**

******This is what it said: **

Hi there!

This story has been nominated for a Phoenix Award in the Best Oneshot category. The Phoenix Awards is an awards site geared toward the best in the Percy Jackson fandom on FanFiction . Net. Luckily for you, your story has been included in the twelve nominations available for this category. The voting period begins on February 10. We at Phoenix would be honored if you could let the world know that you've been nominated. :)

The person who nominated this fic gave the following reason for nominating:

"This story is short, but the author really digs into Alabaster's character, including his reasons for joining the Titans."

Feel free to check Phoenix out at fanmortals . weebly . com. Make someone's day. And congratulations.  
- Theia

**:D I want to thank whoever nominated me for it. Pleas go and vote for it. Again, it's called FALSE PROMISES and it's under the one- shot category. Voting starts on February 10th. THANK YOU. **

**ill try to update RLO next week. **


	6. Sick Little Games

**05. Sick Little Games  
**

"_He clung to her more tightly, knotting his hands in her hair, trying to tell her, with the press of his mouth on hers, all the things he could never say out loud: I love you; I love you and I don't care that you're my sister; don't be with him, don't want him, don't go with him. Be with me. Want me. Stay with me.  
I don't know how to be without you." _― City of Glass, Cassandra Clare  
**...**

**A/N: **I do not own the song _Sick Little Games _by All Time Low. Thank you, you may proceed reading.** [Sadie] **

**...**

Ducker's words were trapped in his head, playing over and over again like a broken record and staring at the words on the card – he had an indistinguishable memory of a prophecy… but weren't prophecies supposed to rhyme?

"Not his prophecies," he heard from beside him. He must have expressed his thoughts out loud. He looked next to him and met his father's empty midnight dark eyes, "I think I have a memory of a prophecy."

Anger flashed in his father's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came. "Really?" the man sneered. "Tell me about it."

The green-eyed boy felt tentative to share this portion of information with the man, although he was his father (it was taking some time to sink in), the voice inside his head screamed at him to not confide in the man so simply. He blocked that voice from his mind once again.

"Well," he began, he didn't know how to begin explaining the memory, especially when he couldn't remember the people in it – their faces were blurry, but he felt as if he had known them for a long time and cared for them. His father held his hand up, stopping him from continuing, "Don't. I'll just… look into your head, it's much simpler."

Percy had no time to protest, because suddenly, he felt that terrible sensation once again – being torn apart limb by limb and forced back together by the shadows that tried to claw at him – then, it stopped and he was somewhere else.

_A girl with blond hair (he couldn't see her face) handed him a parchment. His memory self took it in his hands and fumbled with the string, and uncurled the parchment carefully – as if trying not to rip it._

_He began speaking, his voice was shaky, but it was barely notice, due to the tension in the room – others surrounded him, but their faces were blurry.  
_

_"__A half-blood of the eldest dogs…" memory-Percy began.  
_

_"__Eh, Percy?" the blond girl interrupted, her voice was so familiar, and it made real Percy want to just grab her and shield her from any type of harm – he felt a strong attraction towards her. "That's gods. Not dogs."  
_

_"__Oh, right," memory-Percy said as he squinted, looking as if it pained him to read, his hands began to shake a bit. "A half-blood of the eldest gods… shall reach sixteen against all odds…"  
_

_Memory-Percy hesitated as he stared at the parchment in his hands with fear evident in his green eyes. "And see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul; cursed blade shall reap."  
_

_Real-Percy gulped and stared at his memory self fearfully, before realizing that he was seeing the past and he was obviously still alive… but did the prophecy have something to do as to why he lost his memories?  
_

_"__Percy," a man urged, he had the body of a horse, but from his torso and up, he was a man, "Read the rest."  
_

_Suddenly, Percy felt angry with this half-horse man. Couldn't he be the least bit sympathetic? His memory self was reading a prophecy that could end with his death and the horse wanted to torture him by making him read the rest of his death sentence.  
_

_"__A single choice shall… shall end his days. Olympus to per–pursue–"  
_

_The girl interrupted him again, "Preserve," she said in a gentle tone; at least she understood, unlike the horse dude. "It means to _save_."  
_

_"__I know what it means," his memory self grumbled, "Olympus to preserve or raze."  
_

_The room was completely silent; not even breathing could be heard. Finally, one boy with chocolate brown hair interrupted the uncomfortable silence, "Raise is good, isn't it?"  
_

_Another girl opened her mouth to speak, but nothing could be heard from her moving lips – the memory sped up, as if it was a DVD on fast forward – it stopped.  
_

_"__Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyway?" Percy said, resentment in his voice, "Yeah, I get it."  
_

_"__Percy," the blond girl said. "You know prophecies have double meanings. It might not –"  
_

_The memory flickered, and then fast-forwarded again: "We can't stop it", another boy said, "The hero's soul cursed blade shall reap. You're going to die, Perce. Sorry." The boy, who was fiddling with a couple of wires and a piece of metal, didn't sound so sorry. He sounded indifferent. Real-Percy looked around the room, forcing him to see past whatever was blocking his vision from seeing their true faces. Slowly, the blur that shielded their identities began to fade. Their faces flickered like a candle. Emotions – pity, sadness, anger – flashed in their eyes before they morphed to sneers and their eyes filled with sorrow transformed into ones filled with disgust.  
_

_The blonde girl smirked at memory-Percy. "It doesn't matter. One less person to occupy our space. If you die, you die. But you better pass away fighting." _

The memory faded and Percy returned to reality. His fists were clenched in resentment, "Those were my so-called-friends?" Percy asked lowly. Chaos internally smiled, satisfied. He gave a nod to his 'son'. "Why", he whispered harshly. He had an angry tone and an unforgiving aura around him. "Why should I fight for them if they don't give a damn if I die or not?" He spat out irately.

"I know that you don't remember much, but as the time passes, there will be things that trigger your memories. You cannot regain them all at once, since it is too perilous for you. The only thing I can tell you for now…" He hesitated. "You… in the planet where you used to live. They were your friends, but they betrayed you. Once you destroyed their menace, they killed you themselves for being too powerful. They never knew your true name. It is not Perseus, though you seemed rather doting of it, back on Earth", Chaos mused.

"Why wasn't I with you before?" Percy blurted out before he could stop himself. Chaos froze, but gave the boy a soft smile.

"You will know in due time, as you regain your memories, my son."

The boy sighed in trounce and nodded. "What are we going to do now? With this prophecy, I mean", he said, holding up the card with the words. Chaos stopped walking and took the card from Percy's hand. "Don't worry about it; sometimes Dukker likes fooling around and scaring newcomers." He tugged the card inside his suit. Percy wanted to object, but he couldn't find the words to stand up to this man that called himself his father.

"Yes, sir." He said in a monotone. He blinked and stared at his father's face blankly and unmoving, as if waiting for orders. Chaos smirked but Percy didn't question it – he _couldn't _question it. The voice in his head was getting louder yet he was still not able to make out the words that the voice was yelling. It sounded like a warning…but what?

"You will not question my intensions any further. Do you understand?"

Percy nodded and stared at the man with blank eyes. "I understand, sir."

"Now, then", Chaos said cheerily and clapped his hands. Percy blinked rapidly and there was bewilderment in his eyes. "Allow me to show you your bedroom."

Percy nodded and didn't say a word for the rest of their walk until they reached a door with jewels engraved on it and designs of planets and destruction. He ran his fingers on the door softly, fascinated, then gripped the golden doorknob and twisted it.

He walked inside and stared open-mouthed, but his gut twisted into a painful knot, as if telling him to _not _enjoy it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and ignored the knot in his stomach. He turned to his father. "This is magnificent."

His father smiled - a true smile. "It is your old bedroom, after all. It was you whom decorated it as such."

A different voice was in his head. This time, it wasn't protesting. It was encouraging him to go inside and see his magnificent room, because, who else would be _this _artistic than him? Of course it was him who had decorated the room, it was definitely his style. Although, there was something missing.

He turned to his father and said in a very business-like voice. "Father?"

"Yes?"

"Why does my bedroom not have enough mirrors?" he asked angrily. It was a perfectly normal question. Someone as attractive as him should be able to see his own perfection from every angle. "What?" His father was confused.

"Mirrors", he repeated impatiently and ran a hand through his hair. "I need more mirrors. Someone as gorgeous as myself should be able to be in awe of his own gorgeousness, am I right?" He didn't bother to allow his father to respond, and instead, he answered his own question. "Of course I'm right. I'm always right."

Afterwards, he stomped into his bedroom and looked around the gigantic sleeping chamber. "Perhaps green bed sheets to match my eyes." He said casually and headed for the full-length mirror - the only mirror - that was in the corner of his bedroom and smiled at his own reflection, straightening his own clothes and fixing his hair. He winked at himself.

His father was still standing in the doorway, completely puzzled. "Percy?"

"Who is Percy, father?" His voice was more ceremonial than before, it was soft, yet unassailable. It was that type of voice that drove people to their knees and made them want to please the owner of the voice, no matter what they asked for.

Chaos' eyes narrowed. "Have you gotten new memories?"

The teenager raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Of course I have my memories!"

Chaos stepped towards his son and placed a hand on his forehead. Immediately, the boy fell to the floor, passed out and the Creator could see the boy's memories displayed in front of him like a menu screen. He skimmed through all of the memories, his frown deepening with each one. They were not memories that he had given to the boy, and they were certainly not memories from his past life on Earth. How had the boy acquired these memories that made him so full of himself?

In each memory, the boy was with a different woman, and occasionally, some men, flirting, breaking hearts. People around him complementing him on his beauty. Those people, his servants and the citizens of the Planet of Chaos. It appeared that these 'recollections' had hit the boy all at once, not giving him any time to recover... oh, damn. This was bad. How in the universe did his son _get _these memories? They had to come from somewhere... from someone. But whom? Nobody had seen Perseus yet, besides Dukker, but the boy had no idea of his plan, and did not know how to manipulate memories. Plus, the prophet would never go against him. He dismissed his qualms and began to ponder deeply.

He removed his hand from the boy's forehead. Seconds later, the boy began to groan and slowly stood up, massaging his temples. "By the Angel, father. What did you do to me?"

"What is your name?"

Perseus stared at his father weirdly and slowly said: "Cassius." He turned to the mirror at once and wiped his face from the non-existent dust.

Chaos mentally cursed. Cassius. Cassius. Cassius meaning "vain" in Latin... an Earth language. This was not good. How the living hell had his son..? Oh, he knew how, he just didn't want to admit it. Damn it, it was his fault. All of it.

"Father?" his voice spoke up softly and timidly. His head snapped towards his son and stared at him with wide eyes. Oh no. His son was no longer staring at his reflection; instead, he was shying away from it, as if frightened of his own appearance.

"What is your name, now?" Chaos asked anxiously. The boy stared at his father diffidently. He opened his mouth to respond, "Percy." As he said his name, the introverted expression vanished, and it was replaced by one of pure inquisitiveness.

"My name is Percy. Perseus Jackson", he said slowly. "Are you okay, father?" So he was back to square one. The primary name. Chaos mentally sighed in relief. He needed to investigate soon; he was not going to let this one slide.

"Ah, yes. Pardon me, son. I am very drained today. I'll just leave you here to make yourself at ease and organize your room just the way you want it."

He turned to leave, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "How did I get all the way over here? Weren't we just standing in the doorway?" His son's voice was filled with confusion. Chaos didn't turn to see the expression on 'Percy's' face. He didn't want to see it for now. "Yes, you must have been out of it for a second there. You were rather quiet as you looked around. Don't worry about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to fill out. If you need me, ask one of the guards to take you to my office. They're guarding all around the stronghold."

With that, Chaos stepped out of the bedroom and made way towards his office, his mind slipping back to the situation at hand.

Back in his bedroom, Percy looked around in incredulity. The room was enormous, with ceiling to floor windows that gave a splendid view of the city. The sky was pitch black, there was no sign of stars at all, but instead, – it came so naturally to him, the name – it was lit by witch light. The witch light provided hoary light in substitute of a moon. Everything could be seen, like a cloudy (without the clouds) day. The people of the city strolled around serenely minding their own business. They looked so _human. _So much like the people in his memories, so much like him. Like his father and Dukker. He wondered whether the race of people that populated the planet was older than earth's race of humans.

_"The Race of Destruction..." _A voice mumbled in his head. It sounded so shrewd and confident. Race of Destruction. He doubted that was the name of the people of the planet of Chaos. _"Figure it out yourself." _The same wise voice grumbled and curled up in the corner of his mind. He thought hard enough, focusing his mind on the memory of the streets of Chaos. _The Zerstörer, _his mind whispered. Percy shook his head. It must be fatigue, yes. His body was ready to shut down; the memory recovery process was taking the energy out of him.

He dragged his suddenly weighty feet towards the large bed and curled up in the middle of it, not bothering to undress himself, and ignored his grumbling stomach. Just before he closed his eyes, he saw something scarlet flash in the corner of his eye. Immediately, he sat up and stared at the wall, to his right, open-mouthed. His first instinct was to call for his father, but the first voice had came back – the one that had that warning tone – and it screamed at him to not call Chaos. It was for his own good, too perilous. _Better to keep this one a secret_, the warning voice told him. Then, the wise voice spoke next: _He'll look into our memories and he'll be livid that we kept this from him. Do call for him; it is the clever thing to do. _

Percy groaned as his head began thumping in pain. For a second, he lost his vision, black spots replacing the room, but then it was gone and again, so was the scarlet words that had been painted onto his wall.

_WE'RE ALL PART OF HIS SICK LITTLE GAMES _–_BEWARE HE WHOM THOU TRUST THE MOST. _

_The black traitor will tremble, a spell he shall cast _

_Peace will come to the ones of the past _

_But vengeance shall be reached at last _

_The terrible defender will burn _

_The offspring of destruction shall make a turn_

His green eyes studied the words charily, trying to figure out whom the 'black traitor', the ones of the past, and the terrible defender were. His stomach churned and he felt as if he was going to throw up with an empty stomach at the last line... _the offspring of destruction. _That was perceptibly him. Chaos... it was to obliterate, hectic, slayer. What turn would he make? He had a terribly dreadful feeling about this. He blinked once, twice, thrice, and the bloody – at least, they had looked like blood - words were no longer painted on the wall. The wall was back to its original color – a soft emerald.

He fell back on his bed and put a wall between himself and the arguing voices in his head. He needed sleep – that prophecy hadn't been his mind's eye. It had been a _real, true, rhyming, _prophecy, just like the one from his old memories. He could no longer hear the voices in his head, and he let a small grin slip. Finally, peace at last.

He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

_**Pieces of Time  
**_

_"Arrogant boy, love yourself so no one else has to. They're better off without you." _―Therapy, All Time Low

The soul looked like silver ribbons; it was the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Slowly, the soul's tentacles reached out for his hand, and he stepped closer, opening his palm, inviting the soul to touch him. The silver soul gracefully crawled onto his palm and wrapped its tentacles around his fingers and squeezed in recognition.

"Beautiful", he muttered and placed his hand on the back of the boy's cut-open neck. The soul crawled towards the opening eagerly, and once it was fully inside, he sewed the skin together carefully. Then, he stepped back and waited; he didn't have to wait long, though. Not even five minutes later, the boy's eyes fluttered open and his navy eyes stared back at his own dark ones. He beamed happily at the boy.

"The perfect host for my offspring's soul that was thrown into the pits of hell so long ago. How I have missed you, my son." He told the boy - the host of his son. "Father", the boy muttered. The same voice, the same face, the same expressions. Everything was the same except the eyes - they no longer held the mark of him, Tartarus, the darker onyx eyes. Now, they were a deep navy, like a true son of Nyx.

"Franck", he said with a smile and held out his hand for his son to take. It was his son's body now, not Nico's. Aranck clutched his head in pain and let out a low groan. "The boy, my host, is resisting."

Tartarus frowned. "He'll fade away soon enough." He said this so surely that Aranck believed him. Inside his head, Nico was screaming at him, demanding to have control of his own body back. First, Tartarus dared to posses him and turns him against his friends and family, and now they _dared _to use his body as a host for a silver _worm_?

_Shameless bastards_, Nico muttered in the back of Aranck's - no, _Nico's _- head. The son of Tartarus frowned, but chose to ignore the snide comments of his host and hoped that the human boy would fade away soon enough and _leave him the fuck alone. _

He groaned in pain again and stopped walking behind his father. Nico opened a door in his head, and he immediately sucked in. It was a memory.

_"You're my best friend, Nico. Of course I want you around!" a green-eyed boy exclaimed to Nico, with a wide smile on his lips as he patted the younger boy's back and then embraced him. "Plus, my mom loves you. So you have no choice but to stay around. Dinner at seven, go take a shower now", the boy, Percy, wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You reek like death." _

The memory faded and was replaced by another one.

_He stood on a rooftop, staring down at the ground, which was several floors down. His eyes were wide and they were brimmed with tears as he realized what he had done. Guilt and pain hit him in the gut and made him stumble back. The tears ran down his face, and they seemed endless. What had he done? _

_He killed _– _murdered _– _his best friend and brother, that's what. _

Aranck pulled away from memory lane quickly and gasped for air. His father stood in front of him with his brows furrowed with worry. He reached up to stroke his son's cheek, and Aranck realized, to wipe away his tears. His father sighed. "This was expected. The host will be giving you memories from time to time, but that will stop when he fades."

"_When _will he fade?" Aranck demanded.

"When he tires out. He'll putrefy, slip away like an elapsed reminiscence."

The son of Tartarus sighed in resignation and nodded slowly. "Let's just keep walking", he mumbled.

_**Pieces of Time **_

_"When we were young we used to say, that you only hear the music when your heart begins to break." _―The Kids From Yesterday, My Chemical Romance

The boy hid in the shadows as he watched him wearily; his weapon at hand. His eyes looked around at his surroundings carefully before he disappeared like vapor. He had been watching him for a long time, waiting for the right moment.

The time was near, and he knew that many would not survive the upcoming mêlée against the menace that was to come in a matter of years. He knew that one was bound to pass away, to complete the prophecy and meet his fate – the one that was in his hands.

He, the bearer of the Gift, had the boy's life wrapped around his fingers. Literally. The boy's essence of life nuzzled his palm before it scattered away, and blended with the shadows that were his transport.

He had a job to do.

**... End of Chapter ... **

**End of Chapter Notes: [**Aranck, meaning "stars", of American origin.**] **Well, as you can see, if you have read the Host, the [almost] last part about Tartarus's son, Aranck, is a soul, whom was thrown into hell, but that will explained further on into the story. Anyways, he is a soul, and he has taken Nico's body as a Host, but unlike in the book, in which all the souls are friendly, he will not be so friendly. He _is _the son of Hell, so. Let's see... also, the witch light. Yes, I find it fascinating. I got the idea from The City of Glass, cause you know, Witch light is what powers and protects Idris. So, I do not own _The Host_, as it belongs to Stephenie Meyer [O'Wanda shipper right here, guys], nor do I own _The Mortal Instruments, _as it belongs to Cassandra Clare. I know, I know, that prophecy sucked, but I tried my best to be rhyme-y whimey. Does anyone have any ideas as to who might be the one who is warning Percy with the bloody words? And _what is the matter with Percy _is the question, the main one, at least.

On a completely different note, I finally got my Rise of the Guardians movie yesterday, and today I watched it and I curled up in my bed and cried into my pillow when Jack was looking into his memories like what the fuck that part _always _gets me. Every damn time. When I first watched it in theaters, I also cried. A lot. I giggled so hard when Jamie unexpectedly just hugged Jack because of my Bennefrost shipping fan girl feels, you know? I mean, yeah, Jamie is like ten and Jack is three-hundred-and-eighteen years old, but I ship it, okay? **Pedofeels. **

Another thing, Jake Abel was fucking amazing in the Host movie. I watched it like two weeks ago, and I want to see it again. Goddamn, I ship O'Wanda **so hard** you don't even know. Like, if I even see a story of cheating!Ian or Ian/OC, I will murder someone, because IAN LOVES WANDA OKAY. HE FUCKING LOVES HER EVEN THOUGH SHE IS A GODDAMNED SOUL AND A FUCKING SILVER WORM. HE LOVES HER LIKE THAT AND LOVED HER EVEN AFTER SHE GOT A NEW HOST FUCKING HELL IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND. I don't mind jealous!Ian, though. Oh man, I love those fics.

Also, if you didn't know, we won the Phoenix Awards for "False Promises", Best One-Shot, Round 9. Thank you to those who voted.

**ALSO, FOLLOW MY TUMBLR OR TRACK THE TUMBLR TAG **_**FANFIC: PIECES OF TIME **_**TO SEE THE CHARACTER PROFILES FOR THIS STORY AND SEE THE CHARACTER PICTURES WITH THEIR INFORMATION AND ALL THAT CRAP. **

This is a long author's note, I know. [MAKE SURE TO CHECK MY PROFILE AND READ THE IMPORTANT NOTE, AND VOTE ON THE POLL].

**-fin, for now. **

** . **[YOU'VE BEEN STRUCK BY A SMOOTH CRIMINAL.]


End file.
